CT Awards 2023: Meet our judges

Our judging panel for the CT Awards 2023 once again showcases the depth of talent that makes our flagship awards among the most sought after in the industry.

CorporateTreasurer’s annual CT Awards recognises not only excellence in transaction banking and allied services, but the achievements of the CFOs and treasury teams that form our readership.

From standout strategies that have redefined treasury operations to individuals whose efforts are making a difference in Asia’s fast-moving treasury sector, we are looking for submissions from treasurers, CFOs, banks, consultants, technology vendors, accountancy firms and anyone setting new standards in treasury excellence.

Please find below details of our expert judging panel whose decisions will be driving our awards selection process.

For more details on the awards, please visit our website, noting the categories and dates detailed at the bottom of this article.

Meet the panel

Amit Baraskar: Vice president and head of treasury at Thomas Cook India Ltd (TCIL)

Leading TCIL’s operations throughout India, Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka, while also supporting the firm’s forex business in its home market, Baraskar is a seasoned treasury professional whose 18 years at TCIL has made him an expert in a wide range of treasury functions. He is ultimately responsible for a cash management operation that spans 5 continents and handles nine currencies. As well as being passionate about treasury, Baraskar is a keen sportsman and nutritionist.

Yongyut Setthawiwat: Group treasurer, treasury and finance shared services department, Thai Union Group Public Company Ltd

With more than 25 years’ experience in treasury and corporate finance functions, Yongyut has developed a skillset that ranges through international tax and insurance to accounting and risk management and beyond. He joined Thai Union in 2007 and currently heads its busy treasury and finance shared services department.  He headed the treasury transformation at Thai Union which was launched in 2015 and turned a local treasury into a global centralised treasury operation.

Damian Glendinning: Chairman of the advisory board of ComplexCountries

After 21 years with IBM, Glendinning joined Lenovo in 2005 as group treasurer in Singapore following the acquisition of IBM’s personal computer business, holding that position until his retirement in 2018. Glendinning is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and has a degree in French and Italian from Oxford University. He was president of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (Singapore) from 2010 to 2018, and is currently chairman of the advisory board of ComplexCountries, and principal of Treasury Matters.

Felicia Foong: Regional treasurer, Nestle Treasury Center Asia Pacific

With more than 25 years’ experience in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, Foong leads forex, risk, and cash management for Nestle Group in Asia Pacific. Previously she has held positions across all areas of finance at Procter & Gamble, GE Plastics, Novartis Pharma, SingTel, and Coca-Cola. A chartered accountant, Felicia graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and completed her Executive MBA programme in Nanyang Business School in 2010. She has attended finance and leadership programmes at Harvard Business School, UC Berkely-HAAS Business School and London Business School.

Gopul Shah: Head of group treasury Golden Agri Resources

Shah, a graduate of the University of Chicago, brings a deep knowledge of international treasury to his work at Golden Agri Resources Ltd where he has been treasury professional for almost 10 years. Prior to this he worked at Cargill’s proprietary trade structured funding, treasury, emerging markets trading, and risk management group. Deploying best-in-class treasury, structured finance, risk management and funding solutions to enhance company competitiveness and profitability, he created the company’s proprietary trade structured finance business unit with market coverage of Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Sharon Wang: Alibaba Group as Director of Treasury

Based in Hong Kong, Wang has global responsibility for cash investment, debt financing, market risk management and counterparty risk management at Alibaba. Prior to joining the China tech titan, Sharon worked for MNC giants like Intel, Honeywell and BASF. She spent more than 20 years in banking and treasury, dealing with treasury operation, cash management, liquidity planning, financial risk management, capital structuring, financing as well as treasury management systems and solutions. Sharon has a Bachelor‘s degree in International Finance from Nanjing University and a Master’s degree in Economics from Fudan University. She is a member of CICPA, and a fellow member of CIMA and ACT. 

Lay Perk Toh: Group treasurer and head of corporate insurance at Kulicke & Soffa Industries

Lay Perk Toh is group treasurer at Kulicke & Soffa, a Singapore-based leading provider of semiconductor and electronic solutions with corporate headquarter in Singapore. With more than 20 years of experience in treasury, enterprise risk management, corporate finance, audit and advisory, she has worked for corporations as diverse as Motorola, Honeywell and PwC in jurisdiction that range through the US, Dubai, Mexico, China, and India. Lay Perk holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the National University of Malaysia and is a certified risk management professional and a certified public accountant.

Terica Traazil: APAC treasury manager, Element Solutions Inc (ESI)

Traazil has been with ESI for four years where she manages the company’s APAC region across the full spectrum of treasury functions, including cash management and liquidity, operations, cash repatriation, migration M&As, investments, and FX onshore trades. Supporting the FX director with hedging programs and cross-regions where required, she has built cash pooling in Asia for M&As and ESI’s current entities.

Xuelin Chen: Head of treasury North Asia at L'Oréal

A senior treasury executive with extensive experience in various industries from TMT, chemical, manufacturing and IT, Chen is across the full range of treasury responsibilities including debt and equity markets, global liquidity management, financial risk management, digital transformation of treasury and strategic business support. Before joining L'Oréal she was group treasurer for Trip.com Group, the largest online travel agency in Asia. Xuelin sits on the Asia Treasury Advisory Board for the Economist is an honorary Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

A reminder on categories:

The awards are broken into the following categories

- House Awards - Financial Institutions
- House Awards - Service Providers
- Marquee Awards
- Most Innovative Treasury & Finance Strategies

This year, we have introduced four new sub-categories – payment solutions provider, professional advisor, technology provider, TMS provider - within House Awards (Best Service Providers).

Within House Awards (Best Financial Institutions) there are seven new subcategories: cybersecurity, digital solutions, FX hedging solutions, sustainable treasury solutions, virtual bank, RMB solutions which has two subcategories RMB bank and RMB internationalisation solutions.

Important dates:

• All entries must relate to achievements between July 6, 2022 - July 6, 2023.
• Entry deadline: 6 September (23:59 HK Time)
• Winner announcements: 2-3 October 2023